USAF launches search for missing F-22 Raptor

[ajtr]

USAF launches search for missing F-22 Raptor​

The US Air Force launched a search operation last night after one of its Lockheed Martin F-22 fighters failed to return to its base following a training mission.
“An air force F-22 assigned to the 3rd Wing at Joint Base Elmendorf-Richardson lost contact with air traffic control at 7:40pm Alaska time today while on a routine training mission,” the USAF says in a brief statement.
The service confirms that “a search is underway”, and says: “more information will be released as it becomes available”.News of the missing Raptor comes just months after a C-17 strategic transport from the USAF’s 3rd Wing crashed at Elmendorf-Richardson AFB, killing all four crew members.

 

[nightcrawler]

it may be stolen by aliens.....who take it as the only threat to their invasion of earth...of-coarse after seeing too much LM promo vids)

 

[unicorn148]

It might have been stolen by some country for its tech...............

 

[unicorn]

Guess what that stealth of F22 appears to be a headache now.

 

[building7]

thats good news ,hillbilly lost a plane .

 

[Lankan Ranger]

USAF spots “apparent” F-22 wreckage, pilot still missing

Aircraft wreckage spotted by a US Air Force search team is believed to be a Lockheed Martin F-22 that disappeared at 7:40pm on 16 November, the USAF says.

The search for the USAF F-22 pilot is continuing nearly 18 hours after air traffic control at the Elemendorf-Richardson joint base in Alaska lost radar contact with the F-22.

The apparent crash site is located about 100 miles north of Anchorage, the USAF says. The pilot, who is not being identified while the rescue effort continues, was flying what the USAF described as a "routine", nighttime, training mission.

"Finding the missing pilot is our top priority," 3rd Wing commander Col Jack McMullen said in a statement.

If the F-22 crash site is confirmed, it will be the third F-22 destroyed since Lockheed advanced past the prototype stage in the early 1990s.

The loss also shrinks the USAF's future F-22 fleet to 185 fighters. Lockheed is currently building the final batch of 20 F-22s scheduled for delivery before March 2012.

To preserve its dwindling fighter inventory, the USAF plans to upgrade all three fly-by-wire types - F-22, F-35 and F-16 - with an automatic ground collision avoidance system (auto-GCAS). The system is designed to take control of the aircraft if the pilot approaches a non-recoverable condition.

It is possible such a system could have spared the most recent F-22 crash, when Lockheed test pilot David Cooley briefly lost situational awareness during a 9g manoeuvre. As he regained awareness, the F-22 was already diving through 14,000ft at M1.6. Cooley ejected a moment before the F-22 crashed, but the aerodynamic forces at M1.4 killed him.

Another F-22 was destroyed on 20 December 2004 on takeoff from Nellis AFB, Nevada. A maintenance procedure triggered a programming glitch that wiped out the F-22 flight control system, and the pilot ejected with minor injuries.

USAF spots ?apparent? F-22 wreckage, pilot still missing

 

[Lankan Ranger]

One F-22 Down

 

[CardSharp]

Hope the pilots ok. I wonder if his gear includes cold weather survival stuff.

 

[anathema]

ouuuccchhh...this ones going to hurt.....Hope the pilots are ok.

 

[Donatello]

Search for pilot continues after Alaska jet crash - Yahoo! News




JOINT BASE ELMENDORF-RICHARDSON, Alaska – An aerial search was scheduled to continue throughout the night for the pilot of an Air Force F-22 fighter jet that crashed in a remote area of interior Alaska during a training exercise.

Rescue aircraft spotted the wreckage Wednesday about 100 miles north of Anchorage, and pararescuemen from the Alaska Air National Guard scoured the crash site until being flown out for the night.

"There's no sign of the pilot at this point, from what I've been told," guard spokesman Maj. Guy Hayes said.

But he said two Air Guard helicopters and a C-130 airplane planned to continue searching throughout the night for a sign that the pilot had ejected and survived, such as a parachute or a campfire.

The pilot's name has not been released.

The single-seat jet took off Tuesday from Joint Base Elmendorf-Richardson in Anchorage on a training run.

It was in the air about an hour and 20 minutes and was nearing the end of the training run at 7:40 p.m. when ground radar lost track of it and another pilot on the mission lost communications, said Air Force Col. Jack McMullen, the base 3rd Wing commander.

The pilot had split off from the other jet and was about to do a "rejoin" before both returned to Anchorage as a unit flying about two miles apart, McMullen said.

The other pilot refueled in the air and began searching for the missing aircraft.

The Alaska Air National Guard aircraft joined the search and continued until about 5 a.m. Wednesday. New crews then picked up the search.

A helicopter spotted the wreckage at 10:15 a.m. but did not immediately land because of the threat of hazardous materials.

"It was being considered a haz-mat scene," Hayes said. "They had to get the right gear flown out there to the location so that the pararescuemen and the crash site recovery folks could safely get down there and do a search."

If the pilot ejected, he would be prepared for subzero weather, McMullen said.

"They have survival gear," McMullen said. "He's Arctic trained to survive in that environment. He's got the gear on. He's got stuff in his survival kit, so that he could hunker himself down and fight the extreme cold."

The twin-engine F-22 Raptor entered service in the mid-2000s and arrived at Elmendorf in August 2007. It's far more maneuverable and stealthy than earlier jets and can cruise at more than 1 1/2 times the speed of sound without using its afterburner. Its top speed is confidential.

Congress last year stopped production of the plane, built by Lockheed Martin Corp., by eliminating $1.75 billion that would have added seven F-22s to the Air Force's fleet.

An F-22 crashed in March 2009 near Edwards Air Force Base in California, killing the pilot. In July, a C-17 cargo jet from the 3rd Wing at Elmendorf crashed during a training demonstration for an air show, killing all four crewmen aboard.

Pararescuers will return Thursday, Hayes said.

"They're going to put them back in at first light, or they'll put in somebody — a crash recovery team or somebody."








WTH!!!

 

[mjnaushad]

Every Aircraft have history of crashing. Except the few new ones. Lets hope the pilot is OK and that they find him on time.

 

[SpArK]

YouTube - Alaska F-22 Incident Story

 

[Vajra_Yuddh]

F-22 isn't really coming out with a pleasant news as it should huh? 3 down already and its just 5 years since they entered service. I am wondering what situation the pilot was in when he was forced to do a 9G maneuver in a non-wartime scenario. Raptors don't dog-fight and neither was this any specific wargame in which it was participating.

Situational awareness becomes a problem when a pilot is either in extreme maneuvering or has no automatic systems whereby his concentration towards his vicinity reduces while on workload increases. Funny it happened in a Raptor. Leaves a lot of questions un-answers.

 

[unicorn]

This thread is already posted.

 

[SpArK]

F-22 Wreckage Found in Alaska, Pilot Still Missing​

Air Force rescue personnel have found the wreckage of what they believe to be the F-22 Raptor that went missing on Nov. 16 from Elmendorf Air Force base in Alaska, according to a statement put out by the service tonight.
Search and rescue crews have found the apparent wreckage of an F-22 Raptor Nov. 17 that was assigned to the 3rd Wing here.
However, the pilot is still missing.
“We’re still doing an active search for the pilot,” the AP quoted Col. Jack McMullen, commander of the 3rd Wing at Elmendorf, as saying. “Perhaps he ejected.”
Despite the extreme Alaskan weather, the pilot may have a chance at survival, McMullen told the AP.
“They have survival gear,” McMullen said. “He’s Arctic trained to survive in that environment. He’s got the gear on. He’s got stuff in his survival kit, so that he could hunker himself down and fight the extreme cold.”
McMullen provided more details on the incident in an Air Force press release:
“Last night a two-ship (flight) of F-22s, Rocky One and Rocky Three, were finished with training … about 100 miles north of here,” Colonel McMullen said.
Everything was normal until about 7:40 p.m., he said, when Rocky Three fell off the radar scope and the pilot lost communications.
“The other pilot (Rocky One) went to a tanker, got gas and then continued to look for the mishap pilot,” Colonel McMullen said. “He could not find him. At that time, the Alaska Air National Guard scrambled a C-130 and rescue helicopters. They searched the entire night.”
About 10:15 a.m., an Alaska Air National Guard helicopter found a site that fits the data and the description of where rescuers thought the mishap probably occurred, Colonel McMullen said.
“They found the crash site,” he said. “They were unable to land at the crash site and take a closer look. We scrambled another helicopter that should be in the area in the next few moments.”
Steve Trimble over at Flight Global notes that this is the second F-22 loss in little over a year, and third overall, bringing the total number of jets that will ultimately be fielded to 185, unless more are built.
The F-22 costs $143 million apiece according to the Air Force (although its critics claim the real cost is far higher) and before this latest presumed crash, the Raptor had a Class A mishap rate of six to seven per 100,000 flight hours, according to the folks at Strategy Page.
A Class A mishap is any incident involving an aircraft where over $1 million worth of damage occurs.
It should be noted that reaching this threshhold is fairly easy with the Raptor given its low-observable coatings and other high priced features. In fact, a “minor” collision last year between an F-22 and a Canadian CF-18 parked on the ramp at Tyndall Air Force Base in Florida was declared a Class A mishap.
Hoping they find the pilot alright.


Read more: http://defensetech.org/2010/11/17/f-22-wreckage-found-in-alaska-pilot-still-missing/#ixzz15dmzsOnx
Defense.org